Romans 12:12 says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” On a frigid, January evening in the year 1636, a dark, thickly robed figure struggled out the doorway of his ramshackle cabin and trudged heavily through the woods. His tracks, wobbly, short, and shallow, betrayed his lack of strength as he labored through the snow. His name was Roger Williams and his mission seemed to be bursting at the seams. He had grown up in the crowded streets of London, England, but now he was alone in the unforgiving wilderness of North America. He had stood up boldly for a deeply held conviction, but now all his supporters seemed to be disappearing. Roger Williams was the pastor of the Church at the Salem Colony in the New World. He and his fellow British friends had sailed across the ocean to the new world in order to escape persecution from the state church. Williams was an outspoken advocate of the idea that people should worship as they choose instead of having the government dictate church attendance and what beliefs were acceptable. But after five years in North America, he found a similar oppressive situation among the colonies. After several heated debates with the colony leaders, the authorities tried and convicted Williams of sedition and heresy and sent the local sheriff to arrest him and take him back to England. But Williams slipped out of his cabin into the cold night before the sheriff could get there. The future must have looked very bleak for the bedraggled settler at this point. Could things get any worse? Here he was cornered by his own fellow colonists in the wilderness of a strange, new world. All his friends had apparently abandoned him. And now he was about to get sent back to England where there would only be more trouble.

He spent three months with the Wampanoag Indians until Spring came. Then Williams and a group of his followers bought a piece of land from the Indians and started there own settlement, calling their new colony “Providence.” He could never have known it then, but Williams’ ideas and determination would eventually give rise to some of America’s most cherished tenets of freedom. Freedom to practice religion according to one’s own conscience. His work inspired a nation of freedom because he was joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. And as we celebrate the founding of this nation today, we can still see his legacy.

A large health clinic entitled “Your Best Pathway to Health” will be held in Spokane this summer. The decision to go ahead with this huge venture came on the heels of the same event in San Antonio, Texas, held April 9 – 11, 2015 in the Alamodome.

Cindy Williams, Upper Columbia Conference coordinator for health ministries, who volunteered for this event, said, “I have never been a part of something this jaw-dropping!” Cindy volunteered in the eye clinic where they saw hundreds of patients per day. The first nationally coordinated health event was in San Antonio and the second will be one this summer in Spokane, August 3-4. This massive health clinic will be held at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds and comes with a price tag. According to estimates the basic supplies such as medical and dental supplies, meals, office supplies and set up costs will run about $100,000. “Some of this, about $30,000 is in hand,” said Cindy, “But the rest will need to be raised before August.” This is a service to our community, so there’s absolutely no cost for patients coming to the clinic on August 3-4.

Volunteers can begin signing up now for the Spokane event at pathwaytohealthvolunteer.org. It is estimated that Spokane’s event will be somewhat smaller than the one at the Alamodome, which saw just over 6,000 patients.

All medical specialties along with dental, eye care, massage, chiropractic, hydrotherapy, chaplaincy, and general office or organizational skills will be needed for Spokane. According to Cindy, volunteers are already signing up for the event in Spokane but over 500 will be needed. Areas such as security, hospitality, meal preparation, barbers, beauticians, and child care are also needed.

Follow up for this two-day clinic will be offered at local churches. At the Alamodome every patient received care and was then offered other services such as a haircut, hydrotherapy, massage, etc. and then they went through chaplaincy services and lifestyle counseling. Each patient chose a church location to pick up their lab results or their eye glasses.

Dr. Lela Lewis, president of “Your Best Pathway to Health,” had a dream of holding a multi-specialty clinic in the USA. Her local chapter of ASI, Adventist Laymen’s Services and Industries, began by holding projects in San Francisco and Oakland, California. This program is now under the umbrella of the National ASI as a separate ministry in partnership with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. After Spokane there are formal requests for 6-7 more cities.

Recently I heard a story that sent chills up my spine. An elderly woman was celebrating her eightieth birthday, but instead of having the party at home, at a resort, or on a picnic, she was in the bay of an airplane, 13,000 feet over the fields of California. She was going skydiving, but when it actually came to jumping out of the plane, she hesitated and grabbed the sides of the doorway. She was diving tandem with an expert skydiver and he actually had to forcibly pry her hands off the sides of the doorway and jump. And then, after they jumped, she slipped out of the harness connecting them together. She was literally hanging on for dear life as they plummeted towards the ground at 125 miles per hour. Even though she could laugh at her experience later on, the story illustrates how taking the leap is a choice, but the consequences always follow. Once she jumped out of that plane, there was no going back. She was at the mercy of the weather and her parachute once she left the doorway of that plane.

When it comes to the results our decisions, we can be rest assured that God holds the consequences as long as we are following His will. When we’re struggling over the very wisest path to take, we can remember that we have a friend whose boundless foresight of eternity and the infinite wisdom of the ages. Jesus urged his listeners, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) God knows how to direct us as long as we sincerely seek to follow Him, faithfully stay connected to Him, and carefully study His Word.

My ears were straining to hear the next comment as the voice on the other end died once again. Interruptions are never pleasant, but it’s even more frustrating when you can’t even see what’s causing the interruption. When I’m talking on a cell phone and the voice suddenly cuts out, I know that my remote location must have stretched the signals beyond their capacity. But usually it’s an inconvenience more than anything else. I have never had to make an emergency call in the middle of the wilderness on my cell phone, but I know stories of people who have had that experience and the higher stakes make the call all that much more nail-biting.

When the huge ocean liner Oceanos was going down just off the coast of South Africa in 1991, two of the ship’s entertainers were working hard on the ship’s bridge, trying to connect with another vessel through the radio. A signal problem with the radio could cost the lives of many passengers. But this situation was especially frightening because the ship’s captain and crew had abandoned ship a few hours earlier, before the passengers had even realized that the vessel was taking on water. In the midst of an emergency, the passengers found out quickly who they could trust and who they couldn’t trust. Thankfully the Coast Guard stepped in with sixteen helicopters and saved the 220 remaining people on the doomed vessel before it slipped under the waves.

But when it comes to the Captain of our Salvation, Jesus, let’s take an honest look at how much we trust Him. He demonstrated His trustworthiness in the ultimate fashion when He died on the cross. But are we willing to entrust our plans, our futures, our very lives to Christ each day? Praying involves surrendering as much as making requests. We don’t have to worry about a “spotty signal” when we pray sincerely to God. And if we hand over our plans to Him during our prayer times, we can rest our minds in the knowledge that He is working out His all-wise plan. Meaningful prayer involves letting the Creator take over.

On May 30 at 5:00 pm, we will meet at the Upper Columbia Conference Office on 3715 S Grove Rd., just outside of Spokane, for a special season of corporate prayer. All the Spokane Adventist Churches are involved in this event for lifting up the local churches and schools, the Conference leadership, He’s Alive Television, and future ministry projects in the Spokane area. All are invited, so please come and combine your prayers with ours as we lift up the churches and the Spokane community in our prayers.

Cicadas have surprises up their sleeves. They’re less than two inches long but their calls can be as loud as 120 decibels. They’re one of the only insects that sweat to cool themselves and they live everywhere from tropical islands to mountain tops. But the most surprising part about cicadas is their life cycle. After hatching from their eggs, they usually spend a full seventeen years under the ground as nymphs. They only burrow out of the dirt after the seventeen years as one huge hoard and then mate and lay their eggs before dying immediately afterward. But this life cycle comes with a risk. When the cicadas all come forth from their burrows and take to the air, the surrounding animals feast until their hearts’ content. They dine on the adult cicadas until they are literally stuffed. And after the predators are satiated, there are still thousands of cicadas left to mate and lay their eggs. That’s their tactic—overwhelm the predators and then lay their eggs for the next generation. The concept works well for the species, but there are thousands of cicadas who get eaten by the predators in the process. The cicadas that poke their heads out of the ground first are sitting ducks for whatever predators happen by. But because of their sacrifice, the species is able to continue onto the next generation each time the cicadas emerge again.

Sacrifice is vital to life continuing in the natural world. And sacrifice is also vital for eternal life. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (I John 4:10). Christ has to rescue us from our sins by giving up His own life. God’s love isn’t just conveyed in words, it isn’t just conveyed in pictures, it’s conveyed in a huge, surprising sacrifice. All those who are saved are totally indebted to Christ’s amazing sacrifice.